Notes / Commercial Description:
India Pale Ale is about balance. The right balance of malt, hop flavor, bitterness, and aroma to create an unforgettable ale. Lucky Bucket's Original American IPA begins with a nice malt bill that lets the brew stand up to the mountain of hops added later. After the boil, the hot wort (the beer before it's really beer) is fired through a hop back, a unique four-barrel stainless steel tank filled with a gratuitous amount of raw flower Amarillo, Centennial, and Cascade hops, extracting the aromatic oils and flavor of the hops. Followed with additional dry hopping in the fermenter, the end result is a big, well-balanced West Coast-style IPA with terrific hop flavor and aroma. Lucky Bucket IPA weighs in at 65 IBUs and 6.3% ABV.

T - Smooth with hop, spices, and flowery flavors, which I don’t usually like, but this was very well balanced. The 2nd bottle seemed to have more hops, but may have been the change in food parings.

M - Smooth throughout, started slowly, flavors built, and then trailed off nicely. No real after taste.

O - I was really surprised the first time at the balance and great flavors. The second bottled lacked the same balance, but still had great flavor that you don’t find in ever over hopped IPA. I felt like I could drink a six-pack not just a few. A great one to try if you are in Nebraska or as in my case, you get it in a beer of the month shipment. Go Buffs!

T - Tropical bitterness off the top, pineapple bitter, nice toasted pale malt with notes of caramel, a grapefruit sweetness takes over the the sides of tongue, finishes with a mouth swarming bittering fruit flavor. Finishes with a mix of caramel and strawberry type fruit.

M - Moderate carbonation, medium bodied, a tad too much carbonation.

Great IPA here. Great malt backbone with plenty of flavorfull and bittering hops to back it up. Very balanced with a great hop profile. Excellent!

O - Overall, this is a decent IPA from an unexpected location. The malt and hop are somewhat one-dimensional, but are in balance with what is expected of the style. I don't know if I'd go out of my way for it, but I wouldn't turn it down and if I was out Omaha way would definitely enjoy sucking down this local brew.

I got this as part of a BOTMC, I poured into a SA perfect pint. The color is a honey amber, huge, sticky, white head. The aroma has lots of pine, citrus. The flavor has a nice mix of pine and citrus, lingering finish. The body is medium, slightly sticky mouthfeel. A solid IPA, very nice all around.

Got this as an extra from grownfool in our excellent trade-- Thanks man!
Poured into tulip pint (my go to glass for IPAs!)

Wow. The head on this thing rose a solid finger ABOVE the rim of the glass... And it held on tight. Not a drop was lost. It was thick and foamy, huge bubbles around the edges with microbubbles in the middle. It reminds me of a root beer float-- at least in terms if head. The body is slightly hazy coppery orange that really glows when backlit. The creamy tan head is frothy, and as it subsides the giant bubbles disappear leaving a thick froth-- almost looks like it was served on nitro! Pretty decent lacing to boot! The color is a tad darker than I like, but this is a great looking beer nonetheless. The retention is damn nice.

If the color can be any indication, I'd guess this has a decent amount of malt... Mmmmm... Nice strong backbone of caramel malt. The hops are here too-- grapefruit mostly, perhaps a little orange peel. The flavor is just as I'd hoped-- sweet caramel malt with an assertive hop profile of citrus notes that dries it out and keeps it refreshing through and through. Very strong bitterness at the finish, but doesn't linger too long... That makes this a great brew to drink.

I can't detect any alcohol on this one, so couple that with a nice medium body and carbonation, and I'd say we have a winner.

If I lived in Nebraska, I'd be proud. Well done gentlemen. I'll be happy to drink this again, anytime.

Slight haze, golden bodied, sizeable head sticks to the glass. Light sweet malts and a floral hop aroma on the nose. Light malt front, could be just a touch bigger but still good, followed by a nice piney floral hop. Medium bodied, pretty wet with a bit of sharpness. Pretty run of the mill IPA, which means its good.

T: Sweet bready malts start off and quickly give way to bitter hops. Bitter over powers the sweet in this one. Pine, grass, floral and herbal hops...not a lot of citrus if any. Semi-spicy, bitter finish. Not bad.

M: Bitter and dry, but smooth.

O: Easy drinking IPA if you don't mind bitter...not filling, not bad. Will probably pick this up again at some point down the line. Would feel comfortable recommending this to most IPA fans.

Big nose of grapefruit peel and what I think might be a bit of orange rind... Whatever, it's definitely a citrus-first IPA... Quite pungent on the nose as well... I'm pleasantly surprised with this so far... Actually reminds me of Two Hearted or the IPA from Sweetwater which are two of my favorites..

Well, there is a definite citrusy grapefruit taste to the hop characteristics in this beer but more than anything the bittering hops seem to dominate and drown out all of the flavors and leave this one a bit short of the previous offerings I mentioned... It begins as a pleasant citrus flavor and bitterness and turns sharply south to an astringent aspirin-like bitterness and finish that has me double-taking here...

Tried 3 different bottles of this one and got the same results from everyone of them... A good effort that falls, unfortunately, a bit short in a world full of IPAs...

Pried off the twist-top on this 12oz bottle poured into Duvel Green tulip. Big thanks to roosevelt25 for the extra!

A: Pours a clear burnt amber with an insanely fluffy light tan head that took forever to fade into a dense oily film that looked like almost-melted vanilla ice-cream. I could not ask for better rocking lacing either.
S: Nose is full of hops that smell both sweet and fresh. I get mostly citrus, tangerine actually, but there is some grapefruit pith as well.
T: As many great smelling IPAs are, this doesn't taste as good as the nose. Flavors are much more malty that the nose suggested, and the bitter grapefruit pith really dominates the hop flavor. Finish is leafy, almost tea like, and bitter.
M: Carbonation fluffs up on the palate with each sip; body is medium and the mouthfeel is slightly astringent.
D: I really liked the look and smell of this one but the taste is just a little too rough around the edges for me to love. It's good, but it could use some polishing. That's again for the extra!

No date, but looked like it hadn't been on the shelf long. Cap is on super tight.

A: A brownish amber, very clear, but too dark. The head is almost porter like, but very rich, thick and creamy. A little active carbonation, so I'll give it a 4

S: No one dominant traditional hop aroma here, but it is hoppy. A solid caramel malt comes through. It smells cooked, overall. It's very different. Not a classic amazing IPA smell, but very good. 4.5

T: The malt falls away here, and it's a harsher hoppiness, more like what I remember being afraid of and not liking when I started drinking craft beer. This definitely needs a bit of a malt boost and a more rounded, pinier hop profile.

M: Too thin, but good carbonation.

D: Drinkable, not amazing, but good. It needs some depth to it for sure. Not the beer I hoped it would be.

We were going to have an Omaha weekend with a brewery tour on the agenda but a snowstorm canceled those plans, so I went ahead and picked up some LB bottles. I'm glad I did.

My perfect pour glass was filled with a hazy dark copper brew with two fingers of white head on top. The foam stayed for a long time and left some crazy rings on the way down like decending layers of sedimentary rock in the grand canyon. The aroma was hoppy with a touch of citrus. The taste was a nice level of hop with citrus and a hints of floral and perhaps cinammon. The body is right where it should be for the style. It doesn't require choking down but the hops leave their mark. I'd definitely get this one again.

Pours a classic, coppery colored beer with a nice 2 fingered head that retains throuhgout.

The aroma is welcoming; classic floral and citrus notes coming through

Taste is allright. The hop bitterness is good and I can taste the citrusy hop but not as much as was expected from the aroma....something else really dominates the palate...Like a nutmeg flavor coming through, kinda remings me of a very hoppy wintery ale...It's not bad though, easy drinking.

A: Pours an amber-orange color with a 1 and 1/2 inch head on top at first. This dies down to a 1/4 inch head, but lasts for the whole beer. A good lace follows along the sides.

S: Melon and tangerine fruitiness with backgrounds of citrus zest. Some grapefruit notes too. Caramel malts are definitely there too. Good aromas all around, but it finishes just a little lighter on the aroma than I like in my IPAs.

T: Some fruity flavors including orange, tangerine and grapefruit. Some grassiness as well. A little musk melon in the aftertaste. The caramel malts add a reasonable caramel flavor to the beer. They also seem to add just a touch of honey flavor. The bitterness is ample enough to balance everything out without being too harsh. Overall, all the flavors are nice, but nothing stands out too much compared to other IPAs.

M: Medium bodied. Pretty smooth and creamy for an IPA. Finishes a little too sweet for my tastes. I like my IPAs on the drier end. The carbonation is a little on the lighter end.

D: A pretty good IPA. Nothing epic, but nothing bad. I'd drink it again, but in a ever growing sea of great IPAs, this is in the middle of the pack.

"A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

--Winston Churchill

Dark bronze-like orange with sunny pumpkin highlights. Nearly two fingers of pale caramel colored foam was produced on the pour and looks good at all points in its lifespan. Here's hoping that abundant lace means abundant hop resins.

The nose keeps the happy train chugging right along. LBIPA smells like a caramel-malted brew that uses a generous amount of American hops. Amarillo, Centennial and Cascade (great choices all) add the usual white grapefruit and orange zest. If the proportions between malt and hops is on the money, this should be damn good beer.

Ain't no holes in this (Lucky) Bucket. This is solid ale from front to back and side to side. As always when it comes to American IPAs, the three most important gotta-haves are quality ingredients... of sufficient quantity... and in the right proportions. How hard is that? It must be fairly difficult because relatively few pull it off this well.

Any AIPA that uses the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale blueprint (whether intentional on the part of the brewers or not) has a better than 50-50 chance to be hugely enjoyable beer. Plenty of caramel and toasted malt on the bottom end, plenty of biting citrus zest on the top end. What could be better than that?

The mouthfeel would be big enough even if the ABV was 7.5%. My big beer bias is not easy to please sometimes... and these guys did it with room to spare. Excellent carbonation as well.

It's always a good day when another delicious, drinkable IPA makes it to store shelves in Iowa. I'll still be picking up my annual 12 bottles of Celebration Ale, but Lucky Bucket IPA has the advantange of being available year-round. Good stuff.

T - Starts off with some caramel malts- but it is quickly overwhelmed by some american hops, grassy, piney, and earthy. Gets more bitter mid-stream, some floral hops come in as well. Finishes dry, bitter and somewhat biting. Leans a little too hard to the bitterness and not the hop flavors.

This is my second Lucky Bucket beer, started out better than the first (lager). The relaxed pour yielded a massive foamy head that faded slowly with large craters and dollops of lace. The color was a rich dark copper/red.

The aroma definitely hinted at a West Coast IPA. Lots of pine and citrus was a given, but an interesting spicy pumpkin note and sweet caramel brought balance and capped off an enjoyable nose.

Balance is further proved with the flavor, which is good and bold. Toasty malt and spice does a commendable job at challenging the hop bill.

The resinous feel makes the medium body feel thick and viscous. Carbonation is perfect, a crisp accent but knows it's place. Good IPA.

12 ounce shorty bottle. Lucky Bucket IPA is robust in color, moving from dark amber to red. My initial impression of the nose is that it gives a pretty solid aroma of piney hops, though it fades quickly. Moderate amount of lacing and about a half finger of foam. Sticky lacing continues down the glass. There's a hefty amount of bitterness and a nice piney bitter finish. Mouthfeel is pretty heavy, but it could use more body. There's light cereal sweetness is up front, with grapefruit and citrus in the middle, followed by those piney hops.. Obviously, this is a pine bomb. The beer could benefit from some more malt sweetness, but overall I like it.

Oh, wow! A bold hop flavor hits the palate hard with bitter tree sap and herbal, almost minty-tasting hop cones. Excellent balance of pale malts adds just the right amount of sweetness with a kiss of honey biscuit and toffee. Mouthfeel is perfect in every way--tight carbonation level rolls effortlessly through a medium-thin body and crisp, semi-dry finish. Lots of hop flavor all the way through, and the hop profile is unique enough to make this IPA stand out. Definitely a must-try for any fan of *Humulus lupulus*.